A happy ending

This is a discussion on A happy ending within the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
Alright, so his fins were looking absolutely fabulous. I had cleared up the green water, added some salt as a preventative measure, and put ...

Alright, so his fins were looking absolutely fabulous. I had cleared up the green water, added some salt as a preventative measure, and put in decorations and gravel which he seems to love. We had a Christmas party yesterday and I was even showing everyone how good my "rescue" was doing. Then, when everyone had left and I was finally ready to go to bed (it was midnight!!) I went into my room and was getting ready to go to bed when I did the usual fish check to make sure everyone was fine. I noticed that something looked a little odd with Prof. Lupin's fins and immediately identified it as a tiny bit of disintegration on one spot! What the heck!! (don't know how this site takes to swearing lol) I was so shocked, I mean I had just done a 50% water change 2 days ago, I had added some salt, and there was already some good regrowth. I thought he was out of the woods by now! So, I took quick action and added another Fungus Clear tablet then went to bed. Well, this morning he looks good again and the areas where the fins were beginning to fall apart seem to have fused back together. But, what really worries me are his eyes. They almost look like popeye. Now, when I brought him home I do remember noticing a little something odd about them, but it was too slight to tell. Now I'm still having a hard time deciding what it is. His head is now a deep blue color instead of grey, so maybe I'm just seeing the outline of his eye more. I don't know. I need to ask my mom to help me get a good picture of it, because I can't get anything focused enough to show you. Ugghh...and there's school tomorrow so I need to figure out how to deal with my teacher. I think he's still in too delicate of a condition to be moved, and the whole eye thing has me extra worried. Any advice concerning how to deal with his "issues" (fin relapses and eyes) would be greatly appreciated.

Here's some pictures that I took this morning. You can see that his fins still do look better than the last time I took pics though. Tell me what you think if you can see his eyes.

Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow. I am hoping that there is nothing wrong with his eyes because of 2 reasons...1) they haven't gotten worse and 2) Flame's eyes stick out just as much so maybe it is just normal for him too. Maybe his eyes were just sunken before because he was starving and freezing. If he were my fish I'd just keep an eye on it, I really hope that I can convince my teacher to just let me keep him tomorrow. It'd be so much of a hassle to buy all this equipment, bring it and the fish to school, and instruct her on proper care, oh and carefully acclimate him to the new water. Come to think of it, she really owes me for all the worrying and work I've done for this little bugger over my vacation ;)

Aunt kymmie - Is that your doggie in you avatar? Kind of off topic, but he's a cutie, and what a great picture!

Lets just hope that she lets you keep him. You deserve it, you've taken such good care of him. As far as your teacher is concerned, I don't understand why someone would want something that they really don't care about.

I doubt that its that she didn't care about it. I'd suspect its more that she just doesn't know any better. The advice you get from a fish shop (major chain or local mom & pop) is usually bad trending towards horrible. People are used to pets like dogs and cats where the only thing you really have to do is make sure they're house broken and feed them. Most people don't understand that you're not just responsible for feeding fish but maintaining their whole environment, a fish tank isn't a cage, it's a life support system. However telling people about cycling, keeping the temp up, filtration, etc. would scare away a lot of business so most fish sellers gloss over those details or just leave them out and tell people what they want to hear. Fill the tank with water, toss in the fish, feed it once in a while.

Unfortunately betta's nature works against them here. They're tough as nails and can take such poor treatment for months on end before dying. Since the fish doesn't immediately die people assume they're properly caring for them. When the fish finally expires months or even a year later they assume it died of old age and they did just fine and immediately buy another. Other people have had similar experiences and reinforce their belief by telling them that's normal. They don't realize that a properly cared for betta can live four years or even five or six.

There's also an element of willful ignorance. People often seek out the answers they want. Its easy to identify on forums at times. Someone will ask advice and a dozen people will give them the same advice but its not what they want to hear. Too much work, too expensive, just not what they want to do. Then someone comes in and tells them what they want to hear and they immediately take it as gospel, ignoring the dozen people who are now telling them how awful the advice is. Its not uncommon for them to show up later with the same problem or a worse one because they didn't listen. The teacher probably isn't a bad person, she doesn't want to believe she's mistreating the fish, she wants to believe she's doing a fine job, so when a dozen people tell her she's doing fine but one student tells her she's not who is she going to believe? Frankly I think that the teacher was willing to let Kim take care of the fish and even write her what amounts to a blank check for the fish's care is admirable. It represents her being willing to change her mind or at least give Kim a chance to prove her point.

Telling the teacher the betta died would be the worst thing she could do. First off, the fish was alive under the teacher's treatment, then it dies under Kim's? At this point any sane person would have some serious doubts about Kim's knowledge. After all the fish "expert" just killed the fish. No, the best solution is to bring him back in his new home and show the teacher a happy, healthy fish and let her arrive at her own conclusions as to who was right in regards to his care. At this point the teacher is likely to change her mind. Now she might get sticker shock at what his accommodations cost and tell Kim to keep him, which is a win, if not the class gets to see the proper way to care for a fish which is a win too.

In fact lying to the teach would not only cast doubt on Kim's knowledge but likely prompt the teacher to replace the "dead" fish with a new one to be kept in the same conditions.

Anyways, congratulations on the rehabilitation. Let us know how it goes with the teacher.

I agree with everything Tyyrlym said. Thank you Tyyrlym for taking the time to write that.

PS. Yes Kim, that's my boy! He's my guard dog, so he thinks and acts. The reason I like that photo is he looks sweet & approachable but in real life he's rather intimidating. He's the smartest & most loyal dog I've ever had live with me... a real keeper!

Yes, Tyyrlm that is exactly why I will not tell her he died. It would look awful for me and would just condemn another betta.

The reason that I came to the conclusion that she doesn't care though, is just the way that she reacts to the entire thing. The fish was obviously dying at some points (floating on his side one time, refusing to stop lifelessly floating inside his cave on another occasion) and she still did nothing. She would talk to me about it, and even repeat my advice to others like it was her own , but when it all came down to it I just don't think she wanted to take the time to do anything about it. Ummm...and today at school she didn't even say anything about him . I thought that was kind of wierd.

Anyway, back to Prof. Lupin. I am hoping that if I show her the pictures on how good he's looking so that she knows I have some credibility, then tell her the price (undoubtedly more than she wants to spend even for a bare minimum setup) she will just let me keep him. I just have this feeling that he is going to need a lot of supportive care for a while now, and he's just not going to get that at school.

Aunt kymmie - Aw...he's cute! Is he a german shepherd? My dad had a belgian shepherd and he says that she was the BEST dog that he ever had. In fact, she died before I was even born and he still rants and raves about her . From what I've heard about the 2 breeds they seem like the kind of dog for me. When I get my own place I'd love to get a dog that will be real loyal to me. I think they're gorgeous too .